Discovering Life's Stitches

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Thursday, January 2, 2014

So it's the start of 2014 and there is sooooo much to look forward to! I'm really hoping to move forward with my business and add so much to my shop! My goal is to hover around 100 items in my shop. Hopefully that will help me hop into the express lane of a full time business. I'm also hoping to get a how-to in at least once a week (although it'll probably be once a month since I'm really bad at coming up with ideas!)

If you're wondering what I have been up to lately, I just added this awesome new ID wallet/coin purse to my Etsy here.

Also I just entered to win a Silhouette Cameo or Portrait. You can enter here! I could really use one of these. Hopefully I win! They also have a ton of cool DIY projects if you are interested!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

This past weekend, my mom and I took an indigo dyeing class with the Dallas Handweavers and Spinners Guild. One of the ladies who is part of the guild is also an art teacher at the same school my mom works at. She has her own blog here. She does some really awesome weaving and other fiber arts! You should check her out!

Indigo dyeing is so much fun! We dyed a silk scarf. Others taking the class were dyeing yarn along with their scarf. If you ever get a chance to take a natural dyeing class I highly recommend it! We haven't undone our scarves yet but I'm very excited to see how everything turns out. They said that the longer the dye is exposed to air (before setting) the more blue it gets. Before you dye you have to soak your item in a special solution and then while in the dye bath (which only takes roughly 4-5 minutes unlike other dye methods) you massage the color in. After taking the fiber out you continue to massage the item for 15 minutes. This allows the color to oxidize. It came out as a blue green and the more you massaged your item the more blue it got.

For more information on indigo dyeing check this out. You can buy some kits on Amazon if you want to try it out for yourself.

Ok here are the pictures. When we finally open up our scarves I'll post how ours turned out!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Oh my! It's been a long time. I guess the big reason I fell off the face of the Earth was that I got a new job and then met someone knew and was spending all my time with him instead of posting on my blog. (It didn't stop me from crafting away though hahaha)

I have been doing some "Fall Cleaning" (kind of like Spring Cleaning, only in the fall) of all my craft supplies. I didn't realize how much stuff I had and how long I had had some of it for. I found my stash of ribbons and realized I didn't really have any where to store them. Then I remembered seeing ribbon storage boxes at Target during Christmas time. It's not quite Christmas time (even though so many places already have their Christmas stuff out, Hobby Lobby even had theirs for 40% off this week) so I decided to make my own out of some stuff I had around the house.

First you will need to measure out the rectangle that will become the opening. I left about a half inch of space around each side.

Then you will cut the rectangle out with the box cutter.

After the rectangle has been cut out, you will paint the box. I chose white just to cover up the "Sperry" logo. When I started to paint the lid I realized that this was going to be a very long process so I scrapped the idea and covered the lid in paper. I actually like it much better than if I would've left it all painted. I covered the lid just like if I was wrapping a present. I taped the edges to the inside of the box and it still fits perfectly on the box.

Next you will insert the dowel rod. The dowel rods I had were about half an inch too long so I took my box cutter and tried sawing through the rod. I realized about a millimeter into the rod that sawing through it would be way too hard with my box cutter so I scored the rod and was able to break it where I had wanted. Another way (probably safer?) would be to take some scissors to it.

After getting the right size to the dowel rod, I placed it in the box and marked where I wanted it to sit on the sides.

I then used hot glue to make a U shape on the side where I wanted the dowel rod to sit. This acts as a cradle to hold the rod in place so it stays organized. Do this on both sides of the box where the rod will sit.

Once the glue dried I was ready to put my ribbon on the rob and into the box!

I hope this tutorial helped you organize your ribbon stash like it did me! You can also use this to store your holiday ribbon or other gift wrapping ribbon!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

So several pictures keep floating around about how to cut a bottle with string and fire. Most posts are about people using them as glasses. Ours never broke clean enough to use them as drinking glasses (the edges were a bit jagged) but they were perfect for candle making! Dave and I love candles. I don't know what it is but if I'm going to be in a room for an extended period of time, it's safe to bet that there will be a candle burning ha! I also don't like burning more than one candle at a time (unless they are unscented or the same scent, I know I'm weird). We had several wine and beer bottles that we had been collecting so we got started.

First you will fill the cap of the acetone nail polish remover with its contents. Then you'll want to cut a piece of yarn so that it wraps around the bottle 4-5 times. Soak the yarn in the acetone, it will soak up almost immediately. Then wrap the yarn around the bottle where you'd like it to break (The bottle will break slightly above and below where you wrap the yarn around, so you'll end up with 3 pieces of glass. Plan for that space).

Next light the yarn on fire. Slowly spin the bottle so that the bulk of the fire circles the bottle a couple times. When the yarn starts singeing put it under cold running water. While doing this make sure to twist the bottle a bit to make sure you have a clean and precise break.

There you have it! A broken glass just waiting to be filled with wax! Make sure you sand the rough edges to prevent cuts!

Next heat up the wax in a double boiler (It's much safer to do it this way). We used soy wax so it melted super fast. You'll want to keep your wax at about 185 degrees. After reaching desired temperature, take the pot with the wax off the heat and let it cool to 125 degrees. If you aren't using scents you can skip this next step and head straight to pouring. Soy has a very pretty natural scent so it's not necessary. If you are using scents add them now. We made several different scented candles.

Dip the end of the wick holder into the wax and set it on the bottom of you glass. This will help keep your wick from moving when you pour the hot wax (make sure your wax is around 125 degrees, any hotter and it could cause the wax coating on the wick to melt and your wick will bend/move). We used a funnel to help pour the wax but if you have a steady hand you could just pour straight into the candle, make sure you save a little wax (just enough for a quarter inch more on top of the candle) in the pot and keep warm. As the candle starts to harden you'll notice that it might create little craters, just poke those with a skewer or other thin utensil and fill with the rest of the wax. This should level off your candle!

Allow for 24 hours to completely harden! Now that your candle is cool and solid you can enjoy the fruits of your labor, just make sure to trim the extra wick off!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

My friend Roxanna found a YouTube video for a DIY on galaxy shoes. We had a craft night (or well afternoon) where she and I got together and made us some shoes, while the guys sat around watching/playing video games/drinking beers. It was a very interesting evening.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Well the holidays are over (I still have many gifts yet to finish/send out) and everyone is getting back to the grind! I was working on so many Christmas gifts I didn't make much for myself or my Etsy (I will have a post after all gifts are sent out with all the gifts I made). I did make a super awesome New Year's Eve dress for my sister though!

We saw this dress at Anthropologie:

It was only $90 so not bad, but it wasn't completely what she was looking for. She wanted some sparkle. I had remembered seeing a pattern that was very similar (Simplicity 4070) and figured we could check out the fabric and create one even cooler.

Here was our end product:

We used a tulle/sequin overlay and a gorgeous teal taffeta for the dress. I thought she looked amazing and it was just the one of a kind dress she was looking for.

A little bit about myself...

I'm a 20-something trying to stay sane by crafting! I've been sewing for about 14 years. I also knit and crochet. I enjoy scrapbooking, well really any kind of crafting. Please leave a comment if you would like more information or if you recreate some of my projects. I'd love to see your interpretation